By James Thaler

April 17 - CRC Group has hired Todd Jones as chief growth officer, with the former QBE North America CEO joining the independent wholesaler from Aon, where he spent a little over a year as executive vice president for Risk Capital.

Further details on Jones’ new role, including reporting lines, his start date, and responsibilities could not immediately be confirmed. Aon, CRC Group, and Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jones joined Aon in January 2024 in a role spanning both Aon’s commercial risk and reinsurance business and reporting to Aon Risk Capital CEO Andy Marcell, while also serving as a member of Aon’s Risk Capital executive committee.

In that role he was tasked with further developing how Aon serves large global commercial and insurance company clients, with a focus on better serving client needs and expanding access to capital.

Jones stepped down as CEO for QBE North America in August 2023 after four years in the post. That followed a 16-year career at Willis Towers Watson, which included serving as co-leader and CEO for North America and head of global corporate risk and broking.

Jones’ arrival comes just as CRC Group has established itself as an independent, pure-play wholesaler following TIH’s spinoff of retail intermediary McGriff to Marsh McLennan last year in a $7.75 billion transaction.

The TIH brand was retired early last month, with the company electing to trade under the CRC Group name moving forward. It is now structured as two divisions: Specialty + Benefits and Underwriting.

In an interview with The Insurer last month, CRC Group CEO Dave Obenauer said “now it’s our turn” with the company now more strongly positioned to compete against rivals who have been independent for years.

Obenauer said that among the advantages of now operating as a stand-alone firm with PE backing are being able to incentivize staff by making them shareholders in the business.

Obenauer said that offering equity to staff had been more difficult in the past under bank ownership, which he acknowledged is something its peer firms have been able to do for a long time.

“So we start this year with a lot of momentum, a lot of excitement across our business in terms of the future,” Obenauer commented.

“Folks have seen great success from our peers the last many years, now it's our turn to drive some really neat results for our clients, our carrier partners and our equity ownership. So, we're in a good spot,” he added.